McNiff’s Riffs: MN has a world champion wrestler, and she’s a beast

Okay… don’t come at me because I just called a 17-year-old girl a “beast,” It’s cool. At least, I think it is.

As I explained to Emily Shilson, who just last week became the first girl from the U.S. to win a world championship since 2015 (teammate Macey Kilty from Wisconsin also won a world title the very next day), I meant it as nothing but a compliment, because Emily Shilson eats, drinks, lifts, sweats, dreams and breathes everything about wrestling.

“I can’t imagine doing any other sport. It just wouldn’t be the same,” says Emily. “I love every minute of wrestling. Whether it’s hard or not, it’s just fun and sometimes the funnest parts are the hard parts.”

Emily would know. Winning her world championship certainly did not come easy. A runner-up to a wrestler from Japan a year ago, Emily suffered food poisoning and was throwing up before her quarterfinal match in this year’s tournament in Zagreb, Croatia. How affected was Emily? She tech-falled her opponent from India 10-0 to move into the semifinals at 43 kilograms. Continue reading at www.kare11.com